Green assets of equines in Europe: possible overview through the creation of a data collection tool

An overview of green assets of equine sectors in Europe is carried out by the French Institute for Horse and Riding, the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment, and the European Horse Network. Given the absence of central database on this topic and regarding the Green Deal challenges, the aim is to gather and share knowledge and data on environmental impacts of equines at the European level. Through an initial bibliographical review, five major green assets have been identified: land use, grazing, domestic biodiversity, tourism and equine work. A data collection tool was created to gather information on these five themes. It consists of 58 indicators (qualitative and quantitative) aimed to be filled in by state agencies or national federations. The tool was improved in 2020 after initial tests (France FR, Sweden SW, Poland PL, Croatia CR, and Belgium BE) and then presented to five new countries: the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Slovenia SL and Germany GE (some of which are still under study). Main results show that: 1-Most countries report the presence of equines in suburban areas (in SW, 75% of equines are in these areas). In all the countries surveyed, sensitive areas are grazed by semi-wild local equine breeds. 2-It has been generally difficult for countries to inform the area grazed or valued by equines, but some gave estimates: 329,600 ha in SW and more than 750,000 ha in GER. 3-In majority, FR, BE, GE and SW have saddle equines, intended for sport or leisure, whereas PL, CR and SL have draft equines for meat market. 4-Equestrian tourism is a practice whose dynamism is stable in PL, and is increasing in FR, GE, and SW. 5-The herds of working equines are low in all countries but FR, GE and SW show an increasing interest in these activities, unlike PL, CR and SL. This tool provides first insights for a global view of green assets of European equine sectors in their different contexts, it allows further exchanges of knowledge, creates a network between various European bodies, and serves as a support for lobbying activities, in order to better involve equines into ecological transition of agriculture.